50 years of Tornado Tracks

Stunning map of NOAA data showing 56 years of tornado tracks sheds a light on the folly of linking “global warming” to severe weather. Each line represents an individual tornado, while the brightness of the line represents its intensity on the Fujita Scale. The result, rendered by John Nelson of the IDV User Experience, shows some interesting things, especially the timeline bargraph that goes with the map, which show that the majority of US tornado related deaths and injury (prior to the 2011 outbreak which isn’t in this dataset) happened in the 1950′s to the 1970′s. This is a testament to NEXRAD doppler radar, improved forecasting, and better warning systems combined with improved media coverage.